Day 32 - Aguila de Campoo, Las Loras and the Ebro river

 

Bit grey again, but the reservoir is lovely and cuckoos are singing. It was quiet ish overnight with an occasional car passing but now It’s Sunday morning and there is a constant stream of people walking quite seriously in trainers and leggings past the front of the van. It feels a bit busy to hang around here so we are heading into town for breakfast, but not before doing a bit of a litter pick. There is a fair bit of mess around and we don’t want anyone else to think that we left it.

 We can’t resist the drive across the dam even though it’s not the most direct way to get to the town. Always a fun activity and more so when it’s a steep winding uphill to join the main road afterwards. 

We manage to park in the town centre and happen to be beside a small bar so start with a coffee, it’s a real locals bar and I copy locals having chocolate with a cake slice for breakfast which is rich but yummy! 

It’s only two mins to walk from here to the main square where it seems pretty busy, most restaurants are open as well as several bakeries and even a convenience store, actually feels like we people live here! All of a sudden the church bells go a bit bonkers and we realise there is a stream of people processing to the church door many carrying boughs of bay leaves. I assume it is s Palm Sunday event, the bells are wild … changing from a regular pattern to something very ‘Freeform’! 

Passing a patisserie I notice a tray of traditional Nata tarts and can’t resist buying one for later.

The town has several attractive buildings and some nice colonnaded overhangs but is fundamentally quite functional. It feels really comfortable though, like a ‘proper’ town where people actually live! We wander about reading the descriptions of key buildings on the town trail but it feels like we are the only tourists in town today.

At the riverside we find an appealing cafe that’s warm and cosy and have another coffee. It’s properly cold today and nice to get indoors. 

Back at the  the van we decide to try and drive to the castle. It turns out this only gets us a tiny bit closer and it a fair climb up. Graham does it on his own whilst I wait near the van at the hermitage below. There’s a great view from the top, you can clearly see the reservoir where we stayed last night. 

Slight change of plan, for different reasons neither of us are much up to walking or museuming today so happy to drive for a bit and see something different.  We decide we are going to head east to the only Spanish oilfields , not much of a diversion and one through some interesting landscape. 

 After winding out of the town for a bit we turn onto a minor road that feels like a concrete farm track and that’s the vibe for the next 30 mins or so.

The landscape is really dramatic with a limestone ridge and some great sculptural outcrops with really lush green fields between. Just when you think you’ve seen it all Spain has the  ability to deliver something else that’s completely different. 

It becomes obvious when we reached the oilfields as there are nodding donkeys all over the place. There’s no drilling now but there was oil extracted here until relatively recently and there are half a dozen or so pumps scattered around. We are able to use the access tracks to get close to them and Graham enjoyed a bit of industrial photography! 

From here we head down into the village following signs to see the dolmen.  This one is 3km down a track which starts off not unlike the access tracks we used earlier but becomes unreasonably muddy and slippy about 2km in and it feels like we are seriously risking getting stuck a long way for any help!  With no space to turn  Graham walks a stretch and works out how to get to a point that we can turn before he has to go for it. Great driving, keeping us moving enough not to spin but not enough to skid. 

We stop and walk up to the dolmen and it’s a great thing to see but we are both very aware we have to do the same mud slide in reverse and it’s hard to relax and enjoy the site. With the amount of granite around it’s surprising how soft and sticky the track is but I guess thats why everything that isn’t rock is very green!

Returning back to the village we stop for a short walk to a civil war machine gun emplacement, deciding that the trenches in the other direction are a little too far in the rain. In better weather this area would make for great walking with green trails and the sound of skylarks everywhere. There are lots of walking loops linking up things that are relatively close to each other but today isn’t the day for that! 

In the village we stop at the brand new ‘aire’ just to see what it’s like. It’s pristine and even includes free electricity hook ups. There are a couple of vans already parked up. It’s a bit early for us though so we only park the van to briefly look around the ‘oil’ museum , which could be interesting but isn’t open this afternoon so we can’t see much.

 When we get back to the van it has dropped a lot of the mud from the wheel arches in embarrassing piles in the car park but it’s still obvious it’s been off-roading! 

I’ve picked a road that takes us out of the park and towards the Ebro river. There are a couple of places to stop if we want and it looks suitably winding. My goodness this one was a winner! Right from the start there’s evidence of the granite ridge all around but it’s not too long until we feel like we are driving down a green Grand Canyon, it’s awesome! Photos just don’t do it justice, definitely one of the best yet. 

We wind our way out of the canyon and to the mirador del Canon del Ebro which has a platform over a precipitous drop and a view along the river as it flows through the valley.

 A bit of a challenge for someone who struggles with vertigo but well worth it. There are vultures flying over and birdsong in the air. A five star stop. 

The road then descends to the village of Pesquera del Ebro  and the municipal car park is a tempting overnight, it’s a pretty village with bars and restaurants and a lovely bridge but we make a possibly rash decision to squeeze a bit more from our day by going a bit further. 

The road climbs back up to the Altos and the clouds are falling, interfering with some of the views. By the time we reach the top (about 1000m) and the location of the Dolmen de La Cotorrita it’s starting to feel a little misty and the temperature is down to around 8 degrees. 

The track to the dolmen once again starts well and half way in gets very rocky. Whilst not as ‘exciting’ as the last trail when we get to a bit that’s wide enough to pull over we do so and walk the last few hundred metres to the site. 

It’s not dissimilar in size to the last one and like the others in Burgos has no covering stone but it is certainly atmospheric as the cloud is falling and it’s feeling quite eerie. And this time we’re not worried about our return journey!

We need to find somewhere to sleep and are tempted to return to the previous village but find some possibilities listed in the small village of Valdenoceda 15  minutes ahead instead. The road down the mountain is well in the cloud and it is like driving in fog as we wind back and forth, but it’s a good wide road and not too daunting. As we drop below the cloud we can see the village, small but pretty and right beside the river. 

We try to use Google to find the church ( not very helpful) and when we eventually get there it seems to be busy ish with church goers ( it is Sunday!) so instead we duck down to an alternative spot by the  Ebre River. Needed a check on foot first to find solid ground but hopefully it’s not too soft and it’s certainly pretty! As light falls it’s apparent this will be a dark one and very peaceful indeed. 

Cumulative mileage: 1654

Overnight: Riverside picnic area, Valdenoceda,free

Spending: Drinks, €3.90  Custard tart €2.20 , Coffees €2.80